Project description

Environmental research, risk research, sustainability research and global change research have started to establish non-disciplinary research outside the traditional scientific system which generates knowledge away from the current standards of science stimulated by growing public demand.

For these types of environmental research, the task is to investigate ecological, social and economic issues in context and to package them from the point of view of ecologically sustainable development and present them to societal decision-makers. This requires an interdisciplinary, integrative approach in research.

The project will study the structure and conditions for validity of these types of problem-oriented research. In the process, the new legitimation of research (relevance to application) will be considered in terms of its normative orientation (sustainability), methodological approaches (modelling, transdisciplinary approach) and communicative conditions and use in business, politics and the general public.